Divine Mercy for the Absent-Minded

It’s pretty hit-or-miss whether I remember to start the Divine Mercy novena on time each year. I mean, day one is Good Friday. The typical busy Catholic mother has spent the day in a combination of hard-core prayer and frantic domestic preparations for Easter: spring cleaning, food shopping, putting together decent Easter outfits for the children. At my house, when we get back from Good Friday liturgy, we build a sort of Calvary/tomb tableau with rocks, moss, and flowers from the garden. This takes time. Then, having served that one full meal of the day to the ravenous fasting hordes around there, I start baking the required Easter pastries, and making a list of needed items (wine, egg dyes, dress shoes that fit the boy who just outgrew the pair I bought him last month) for a last minute Holy Saturday shopping trip. So is it any wonder that on Good Friday night I’m likely as not to fall into bed, exhausted and having totally forgotten to start the Divine Mercy novena? I ask you!

But not this year. To my rescue comes John-Paul Deddens, my novena knight in shining armor. I’ve signed up with his wonderful Pray More Novenas website, and if I manage to check my email even once on Good Friday, I’ll receive a reminder to start the novena, AND the prayers will be there right on the email. (No more hunting around for those old-fashioned novena pamphlets! Sometimes I just love this modern digital era!)

Daria Sockey is a freelance writer from western Pennsylvania. Her articles have appeared in many Catholic publications. She authored several of the original Ignatius Press Faith and Life catechisms in the 1980s, and more recently wrote five study guides for saints' lives DVDs distributed by Ignatius Press. She now writes regularly for the newly revamped Catholic Digest. Her newest book, The Everyday Catholic's Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours, will be published by Servant Books this spring. Feel Free to email her at thesockeys@gmail.com

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Thank you Thank you Thank you. I’ve missed a few Novenas in the past too! I had to google the start date for the Divine Mercy novena because every year I forget…same busy life I suppose…and I added it to my calendar.

I will forward this article to all my fellow reciters of novenas.

Thank you again.

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